Jose Baez drops Casey Anthony as a client

Associated Press

Thursday

Feb 23, 2012 at 3:01 PM

Wanted: An attorney who will put up with the media circus that will likely follow Casey Anthony for the rest of her life.

The attorney who previously held that position, Jose Baez, released a statement to the media Wednesday announcing that he is no longer representing Anthony. If you'll recall, Baez stood alongside Anthony, clutching her hand, when she was found not guilty last year of killing her daughter, Caylee.

Anthony's acquittal outraged many and led one online poll to dub her the most hated person in America. But it also turned Baez into a household name - and one of the most sought-after criminal defense attorneys in the country.

Now, Baez said in his statement that it's time to move on: "My work as Ms. Anthony's defense attorney is finished. It's not my job to answer questions regarding non-legal matters relating to Ms. Anthony, and I must attend to my other clients' needs."

Such a breakup has been rumored for weeks, supposedly because Baez had been unable to secure a lucrative TV interview and/or book deal to help out the financially strapped Anthony.

Baez's statement itself adds to the intrigue. It noted both that he had formally filed a notice of withdrawal from Anthony and that his work was done upon her acquittal in July 2011. If that's the case, why was a statement necessary at all? Moreover, the statement seems terse, and doesn't even toss an obligatory "best of luck" line to Anthony.

But on closer reading, perhaps the statement does throw a bone to Anthony: It noted that she does not currently have a media agent and is not fielding or looking for any deals or offers relating to her story.

Isn't that like dangling catnip in front of the publishing industry? Time will tell.

Since her acquittal, Anthony appears to have been trying to lay low in Florida while she completes her probation on unrelated check-fraud charges. That has been made difficult by tabloid reports about her new boyfriend, as well as the revelation that she was keeping a personal video diary that somehow made its way online last month.

Baez said at the time that the video entry was illegally hacked and posted. Guess he was just doing that pro bono.

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